We worked on Sunday many hours writing blogs and catching up on things, not finishing until nearly 10 pm. After talking to John for another bit of time, it was close to 1 a.m. by the time we got to sleep. Awakening at 5:30 was pretty brutal. John’s car was in for repair, so we needed to take a bus downtown to the car rental agency first thing Monday so he could pick up his rental.
We were on time with catching the first bus, but ended up with a long wait on the bus benches downtown waiting for our transfer. The next bus took us in the complete opposite direction before we headed out to where John needed to be. He was definitely feeling some stress from the delay, but it gave us the chance to get an unplanned tour of parts of Galveston we hadn’t seen.
The rest of the trip into Houston was smooth. The rental car was great and the traffic, normally horrendous, ran quickly and smoothly. John dropped us off at a Whole Foods shortly after 9 a.m. where we sat in the shade for a few hours, after buying couscous and our favorite (and hard to get) toothpaste.
The rest of the trip was definitely more strenuous for us. We hiked about two miles in the heat down the road to a Washington Mutual bank. We have an account there, and never got debit cards for that account. After calling Wamu way back in Louisiana, we were told we had to show up in person to get the cards. Since there were no Wamu banks until Houston, and none on the rest of our route, this was our big chance.
The bank personnel were just wonderful, very friendly and kind. The whole transaction took about ten minutes, and now we have cards on the way! The next challenge was getting to REI.
As luck would have it, we found a bus transit center right across the street, but we still had to figure out what bus to take. Mind you, all day we were carrying our two camp chairs and a non-folding bike tire in our arms and over our shoulders, along with our backpack with the day’s food and water. It was awkward at the very least and downright annoying other times.
We finally made it to REI – it took us nearly two hours and cost $5 just to get four and a half miles, but we made it!
We’d been wanting to return the chairs since shortly after we got them over a year ago; they were incredibly difficult to get out of, and they cut off the circulation to our legs – not highly desirable characteristics in a camp chair. We’ve been carrying them with us all this time, carefully tucked away in our dry bags (at least since Gueydan), and we’ve been really looking forward to the extra storage space and reduced weight when we returned them.
With the credit we had from returning them and our last year’s dividend from REI, we had just enough to get a gorgeous new water filter and one Eagle Creek pack it cube (to replace our very annoying existing system). After all that we still got a dollar back!
The ride home was really quiet; we were so tired we could hardly talk. Thank heaven the traffic was decent again. John picked us up at REI so we didn’t have to walk anymore or take any more buses, and we were gratefully free of our burden of chairs and tire. After returning the rental car and picking up John’s car, we finally made it home about eight.
We awakened Tuesday feeling really terrible. We’d been staying up too late too many nights in a row with very little downtime, and it finally caught up with us. I didn’t get to pick up my trailer until 5 p.m., so we called John in Houston to see if he minded if we stayed another night. He was fine with that.
We’d already spent the day working quietly to get packed up, sorting and organizing, so we had a peaceful and productive day. We were in bed with lights out nice and early.
Getting to West Galveston
We felt much better today, but not great. The weather has turned really hot and humid, and we had strong south winds, so the riding was slow. The traffic was surprisingly heavy, but we had a great shoulder much of the day, and when that shoulder went away, we at least had enough to get most of the way off the road.
Chelsea was feeling distinctly unwell when we finally reached Pirate’s Beach, looking for the Galveston State Campground. Resting in the shade at little mini-mall, eating our Power Bar, we spotted a woman who waved at us and said she’d check if the campground is even open after Ike.
We’ve ended up staying the afternoon in their real estate office – a completely delightful and restful place with extremely friendly people. We’ve got Internet, water, bathrooms, and best of all, air conditioning. The office has a fun and comfy waiting area, where we’re happily settled with our snacks and my laptop. Chelsea has had a chance to read a bit while I write, but if I finish now, she can html the blog and post it so y’all can read it!
We’ve been avoiding a severe thunderstorm warning the whole afternoon, and it now looks as though the sky is clearing.
We still have about a two-mile ride to the campground. It’s closed after Ike – destroyed from we we’ve been told, but Claire here at the real estate office called the local police and cleared it for us to camp there. We may still get evicted, but the chances are low as it’ll be after five when we arrive, and we are leaving early tomorrow. We often get a break also because what we are doing is so unusual.
We’re planning on reaching Surfside tomorrow.
Signing off from Pirate’s Beach TX